Job summary
- Main area
- Clinical or Counselling Psychologist in Secondary Care Psychotherapy
- Grade
- Band 7
- Contract
- Fixed term: 12 months (End date September 2026)
- Hours
- Full time - 37.5 hours per week
- Job ref
- 363-NEW7288627
- Employer
- East London NHS Foundation Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Newham SPS
- Town
- Stratford
- Salary
- £51,883 - £58,544 per annum Inc HCA
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 03/08/2025 23:59
- Interview date
- 15/08/2025
Employer heading
Clinical/Counselling Psychologist
Band 7
ELFT has long been recognised as a centre of excellence for mental and health care, innovation and improvement. So it is a very exciting time for you to come and work for us. Our mission is to make a positive difference to people's lives by improving quality of life for all we serve. Our values are: We Care, We Respect, We are Inclusive – so we are looking for people who live and breathe these qualities when supporting service users and carers, and in their relationships with colleagues in the Trust and our partner organisations.
Job overview
The Newham Specialist Psychotherapies Service (SPS) is a vibrant psychotherapies service in the heart of East London at 409 Stratford High Street. The post is within the Integrative Psychotherapy team where therapeutic approaches are tailored to formulation based therapeutic goals with the flexibility to draw on different models.
The post holder will be responsible for delivering individual and group therapy interventions to service users presenting with severe and enduring psychological difficulties, in particular complex trauma, personality disorder diagnoses and childhood trauma, as well as complex anxiety and depression and psychosis. The will also conduct assessments of newly referred service users to consider suitability for the wide range of psychotherapies offered in the service.
The post holder will also work up to one day a week in the multidisciplinary Community Integrated Mental Health Service (CIMHS) to develop, and enhance provision of shorter-term psychological interventions. There are opportunities to develop areas of interest such as group interventions for trauma, mindfulness, or NET or compassion focused therapy approaches. The post holder will also provide consultation and support to teams, and other agencies in the development of care plans for service users, decisions around referral outcomes and will also contribute to service development initiatives and audit.
Main duties of the job
- Undertake assessment and risk assessment of clients referred to the Psychotherapy service with severe and enduring mental health difficulties.
- Provide psychotherapy of up to 30 sessions using an Integrative approach where different models can be used and therapy is tailored to presenting difficulties and goals.
- Contribute to provision of group therapy within the service.
- Work up to one day a week in the multidisciplinary Community Integrated Mental Health Service (CIMHS) to develop, and enhance provision of shorter-term psychological interventions. The post holder will also provide consultation and support to teams, and other agencies in the development of care plans.
- Be responsible for recording, monitoring and reporting on clinical work and communicating complex clinical information to a variety of recipients, e.g. service users, families and carers, other professionals, formal panels and statutory and voluntary organisations, orally and in writing. Making use of Trust provided Rio Electronic Health Record and data analytics systems.
Working for our organisation
Our mission is to make a positive difference to people's lives by improving the quality of life for all we serve. Our values are: We Care, We Respect, We are Inclusive – so we are looking for people who live and breathe these qualities when supporting service users and carers, and in their relationships with colleagues in the Trust and our partner organisations.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Patient Care • Provide expertise and psychological advice, guidance and consultation to other multidisciplinary professionals in the NHS, interagency and service user networks contributing directly to service users’ formulation, diagnosis and service planning. Ensure that multidisciplinary and community colleagues have access to a psychologically based framework for understanding the care of service users including the Recovery Approach.
• Take delegated responsibility for developing working relationships with relevant statutory, voluntary and community groups and organisations to enhance care provision. Provide expert consultation about the psychological care of the service user group to MDT staff and external organisations.
Clinical • Provide developed co-produced highly specialist psychological assessments, based on the appropriate use, interpretation and integration of complex data from a variety of sources (including psychological tests, measures/rating scales including Recovery Measures and Quality of Life measures, direct and indirect observation and semi-structured interviews with clients, family members and involved others.)
• Formulate developed plans for the formal psychological treatment and/or management of mental health problems across a range of care settings, at population, systemic and individual levels, based upon a theoretical knowledge base to analyse, interpret and compare complex information. Provide psychological therapy for individuals, tailored to individual need and group therapy interventions.
• Undertake developed risk assessment and management and to provide specialist advice on psychological aspects of risk assessment and management holding in mind the relevant legal frameworks. Hold your own caseload and respond to Service User crises as appropriate.
• Be responsible for providing and receiving highly complex, sensitive, distressing and emotional information in relation to health issues where there are often barriers to acceptance.
• Be mindful of the needs of individuals and families from a wide range of racial, cultural, sexual, religious and social backgrounds and, with service users and colleagues, co-produce innovative ways of communicating and working across language and cultural barriers.
Administration • Be responsible for recording, monitoring and reporting on clinical work and communicating complex clinical information to a variety of recipients, e.g. service users, families and carers, other professionals, formal panels and statutory and voluntary organisations, orally and in writing. Making use of Trust provided Rio Electronic Health Record and data analytics systems.
• Make full use of available teleconferencing, video calling and electronic diary scheduling facilities.
• Use information technology in line with Trust and NHS information governance requirements, and maintain up to date knowledge of systems and governance requirements.
• Collate and report on information across service area using Trust Information systems to a high standard
Management • Comply with governance systems in place for the provision and monitoring of clinical and professional supervision of qualified and unqualified psychological practitioners across the directorate.
• Ensure practice within relevant guidelines for professional practice (e.g. BPS/HCPC/BABCP etc).
• Maintain up to date knowledge of relevant legislation, national and local policies and issues in relation to the provision of services.
• Attend regular psychology meetings to develop and maintain high standards of professional knowledge and practice in services.
Human Resources • Participate in appraisal and development planning, identifying and agreeing training needs.
• Ensure the personal maintenance and development of the highest professional standards of practice, through active participation in internal and external CPD training and development programmes.
Performance and Quality • Support systems for evaluation, monitoring and development of the directorate’s psychological therapies services to ensure services are delivered in line with Trust policies, national guidance and evidence based practice.
• Use skills in undertaking research, audit and evaluation analyse and interpret complex data, identifying trends and opportunities for improvement.
• Participate in service development and quality improvement initiatives within the directorate, in line with directorate priorities and in response to identified local need.
Financial and Physical Resources • Contribute to the responsible management of equipment and resources required for the ongoing provision of a high standard of psychological service to the directorate.
Person specification
Experience
Essential criteria
- Significant experience working with a wide range of psychological problems within therapy in NHS secondary care.
- Experience working within a diverse cultural setting and engaging patients with different language and cultural needs.
- Experience of combining or integrating more than one therapeutic model in treatment
- Experience delivering therapy through an interpreter
- Experience providing group treatments.
- Experience of delivering longer term interventions in a secondary care psychological therapies service.
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- Postgraduate Doctorate in Clinical Psychology (as accredited by the BPS).OR Postgraduate Doctorate in Counselling Psychology.
- Registered with the HCPC as a Practitioner Psychologist.
Desirable criteria
- Formal basic training in teaching, lecturing or clinical supervision
- Formal qualification in another model of psychotherapy
Knowledge
Essential criteria
- Knowledge of generic and specialist psychological assessments and range of therapeutic interventions required for people with mental health problems.
- Knowledge pertinent to effective risk assessment and management.
- Skills in working in multidisciplinary settings and working knowledge of the practices and approaches of other key disciplines, professions and agencies involved in the care and management network, including medical, employment, social, educational and criminal justice systems.
- Knowledge of adapting standard models using individualised formulations.
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills relevant to a wide range of audiences.
- Independently able to travel across sites as required.
Desirable criteria
- Advanced knowledge of more than one area of clinical practice, e.g. work with complex and persistent anxiety or depression, psychosis or personality disorder.
- Speaking a local community language
Employer certification / accreditation badges
Applicant requirements
You must have appropriate UK professional registration.
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Dr Andrew Higginbotham
- Job title
- Clinical Psychologist & Lead for Integrative Team
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 02082216000
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